


Chocolates and Cigarettes

by sweetflips



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Attempt at Humor, Bisexual Character, Drama, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Lesbian Character, Misunderstandings, Multimedia, Self-Discovery, Sexuality Crisis, Texting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-23
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2018-05-15 16:04:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5791912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetflips/pseuds/sweetflips
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So Chloe had told Warren about the kiss. Part of Max wanted to laugh at the fact that Warren actually believed she and Chloe were an item, but another part of her, the part that was beating so fast in her chest it was threatening to burst out of her rib cage, didn’t find it funny at all. She felt her face grow hot. She already had the obligatory “Misunderstanding. Not actually gay for hot, punk best friend” text planned out when she saw that she’d already responded to Warren’s text. </p><p>What.</p><p>(Pricefield Fake Dating AU. Previously titled Modern Romance)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Shovel Talk

**Author's Note:**

> In this AU there's more time between when Max gets her powers/Chloe dies and when the storm hits Arcadia Bay. Also, the Alternate Timeline hasn't happened/Max has not discovered she can jump back in time through photographs...yet. I also made some other changes but those will become more apparent as this story goes on. I can make a more specific timeline if the times in this story are confusing to anyone!
> 
> also if ur reading this i love you and you look really beautiful today. did you do something new with your hair? yes? no? either way, nice.

The last thing Max remembered was combing through the papers Chloe had printed off of Principal Wells’ computer the other day...and the next thing she knew, she was waking up in Chloe's bed, who knows how much later.

The fact that she was more comfortable passing out in Chloe's room, a place she hadn't been in years (and that looked like one of those indie punk bands Chloe listened to all the time had thrown up all over the walls) than she was in her own dorm room at Blackwell, was strange. She probably should feel like she was sleeping in a stranger's room, but it just felt like she was surrounded by everything that made Chloe...Chloe. And that was comforting, somehow.

Max hadn't exactly been comfortable sleeping in her dorm since someone had spray-painted “NOBODY MESSES WITH ME BITCH” on her wall in angry, red letters. She very strongly suspected it was Nathan Prescott (because graffiti really wasn't Victoria's style). Just the thought of that creep skulking around in her room without her knowing was enough to make sleep impossible. The fact that she'd noticed some of her selfies were missing from her memorial wall didn't help.

Max sat up, yawned hugely, and stretched until she felt (and heard) a satisfying pop in her back.

Chloe turned around in her computer chair at the sound. “Yikes. Someone's getting old. How's the back, gramps?”

“Shut up,” Max yawned. Then she saw the faint shadows under Chloe's eyes, and the guilt finally hit. “Sorry, I didn't mean to pass out on you. And on your bed.”

“No problemo. I conked out, like, a couple hours after you did anyway.”

“You did?” Max blinked at the other girl. “Shit, sorry, I didn't mean to banish you to the floor. Jeez, you should've shook me awake or something–”

“And interrupt the only hours of sleep you're likely to get this week? Nah, I'm not that evil. And I didn't sleep on the floor, dumbass, I slept next to you. No way in hell I'd let myself get kicked out of my own bed.”

Of course. It wasn't like they hadn't done it before. In fact, it'd happened just the other day, after their idiotic--but admittedly fun--after-hours pool adventure. It had been nice to wake up next to her best friend for the first time in five whole years. She was almost disappointed Chloe had gotten up before she did this time.

Max shook her head, silently berating herself for getting lost in her thoughts again. “Then I guess I should thank you?” It came out as more of a question.

Chloe just waved her hand dismissively. “Never mind that. Didja get anything good?” Oh, right. They hadn't had a chance to compare notes before Max had passed out.

Max scooped up her Rachel research from the other night, thumbing through the little notes she'd made. “Not really...”

“Really? We were poring over all this for like, five fucking hours, and neither of us found jack shit?” Chloe pushed back her electric blue bangs from her forehead, sighing. She sounded less angry and more hopeless and dejected, but Max couldn't help but feel defensive.

“Well, we can't really pull together anything conclusive from just this...even with everything we found at Blackwell, nothing's fitting together.”

“I know, I know,” Chloe said irritably. “But I just feel like...every second she's gone is another chance for something really, really bad to happen to her. I don't want to waste time we could be using to find her and bring her back home. You know what I mean?"

If Chloe were any other person, Max would probably be trying to convince her that Rachel was just plain gone, or dead, or that the police could take care of everything...but for some reason she couldn't quite explain, she wholeheartedly believed Chloe when she said she thought Rachel was alive and needed their help. Sometimes Max even felt like Rachel was leading them to her. She didn't know how it was possible, but she really believed it was true, and Chloe really wanted to believe it was true. And so that was enough for her.

She couldn't shake the feeling all of this had something to do with that freak snowstorm and that weird eclipse, either.

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Max said gently. “Maybe once David heads out for work we could snoop through his files some. He's got cameras on everyone at Blackwell. Maybe he's found something and he doesn't even know it yet.”

Chloe's eyes sparked with hope. “Sweet. He left ages ago, so we could go right now. Good idea, Max. I knew I picked you as my sidekick for a reason.”

“Who says you're not my sidekick? I'm the one who got us into the principal's office, remember?”

“Yeah, thanks to your geeky little stalker.”

Max rubbed her arm uncomfortably. “Oh, come on. Warren's not that bad...when he's not. Uh. You know.” 

“When he's not incompetently flirting with you?”

“Um. Yeah. That.” Max wouldn’t have chose those exact words to describe it. After all, she didn’t think she had the right to be calling anyone incompetent at flirting when she herself hadn’t had a boyfriend since the third grade. But still, even she had to agree with Chloe on this one. Warren’s game needed some serious work. Especially if he couldn’t even see how crazy Brooke was about him. 

Chloe laughed so hard she snorted. Max tried very hard not to find it adorable, with very little success. She wasn't sure why Chloe loved to bag on Warren so much, though. As far as she knew, Chloe and him had never even had a conversation...

“Aaaanyway, we should probably get on that idea of yours before step-douche gets back.”

Max huffed. “What, no breakfast first?” Joyce's waffles were sounding really good right now.

Chloe lifted a single eyebrow, laughing. “Max, it's like four o'clock.”

“W-What?” Max sputtered. “Chloe, why didn't you say anything? I’ve missed almost all my classes!” She shot up off the bed, grabbing her phone, journal, and camera and shoving them into her bag. Chloe grabbed her by the wrist before she could pull her bag over her shoulder.

“Come on, Max. You can handle missing one day, right? Unless you really want to see that hotshot celeb of a teacher that badly.” At Max's unamused look, Chloe sighed, her fingers falling from Max’s wrist to gently grip her fingers. “You needed the rest, okay? And even if you did go to school, you wouldn't get anything done 'cause it’s pretty obvious that you're hella stressed right now.”

Max was almost surprised. She'd thought Chloe hadn't noticed, since she hadn't said anything about it. Until now. She felt a rush of affection for her friend. _That’s right. Even when we were kids, Chloe always had trouble showing she cared, but she always did manage to show it eventually, in her own way. I remember now. She was my rock when Grandma died, and I couldn’t even be there when…no, don’t beat yourself up over this, Max. That’s not gonna help anybody. You’re here now. You’re fixing your mistakes._

“Okay, okay, you’re probably right,” Max said at last. “Thanks, Chloe.” The other girl’s eyes widened, as if she hadn’t expected that response. But eventually Chloe grinned, squeezing Max's fingers with surprising gentleness. Max almost missed the warmth when Chloe finally let go of her hand.

“Awright, little Max Caulfield is all grown up. First breaking and entering, and now she’s playing hooky. I am such a bad influence,” she said proudly. 

“This is the first and only time I’m doing this,” laughed Max. “Don’t get carried away.”

“Sure, sure. Let’s just get this thing started. Ready when you are, Nancy Drew.” 

“Nuh-uh,” Max said. “If we’re doing this, you’re feeding me. I haven’t eaten in, like, eight hours. I’m fricking starving.” 

“You just want free food,” Chloe accused.

“You got me there.”

Chloe snorted. “Come on, you dork. My mom’ll make us both a late-ass lunch and then we can get this show on the road.” 

"Sounds like a plan," Max grinned. She heard her phone ping. “One second, I got a text.”

“Kate?” Chloe asked with false nonchalance. Ever since Kate’s suicide attempt, Chloe had been asking Max for updates on the girl’s condition almost daily. Max figured she felt guilty about how upset she’d gotten at Max for taking Kate’s call at the diner. 

“No. She hasn’t been given access to her phone yet,” Max said, sighing. She checked the notification on her phone. “Oh. Warren sent me the text.” She scrolled down. “Scratch that. Warren sent me five texts.” 

Chloe laughed. “Well, I’ll just head downstairs while you answer your number one fan.” Max stuck her tongue out at the other girl, but Chloe was already gone. 

“I guess I should see what Warren had to tell me at 8 AM today,” Max sighed to herself. He was one of her closest friends, besides Kate and of course Chloe, but Dana had been accurate in her comparison of him to an overeager puppy. 

[ ](http://imgur.com/5h4jE6Q)

So Chloe had told Warren about the kiss. Part of Max wanted to laugh at the fact that Warren actually believed she and Chloe were an item, but another part of her, the part that was beating so fast in her chest it was threatening to burst out of her rib cage, didn’t find it funny at all. She felt her face grow hot. She already had the obligatory “Misunderstanding. Not actually gay for hot, punk best friend” text planned out when she saw that she’d already responded to Warren’s text. 

What.

[ ](http://imgur.com/EM8ylfA)

Chloe did it. Had to have. _“NO EMOJI” my ass. Dork_ , Max thought fondly.

Chloe didn’t seem to be correcting Warren’s assumption that she and Chloe were dating. In fact, she seemed to be encouraging his confusion. Max scrolled down to the next few texts, looking for some clarification.

[ ](http://imgur.com/BIOtEc8)

_She did not._

[ ](http://imgur.com/w5sJETC)

_...She did._

“Stupid,” Max mumbled to herself. Next time she saw Warren, she’d have to knock some sense into him so he’d finally ask Brooke out. The girl obviously liked him. Maybe Warren didn’t feel the same way? Something to think about, when her mind wasn’t still processing the sentence “Girl is mad into you”. 

Max had figured the kiss between her and Chloe was just a...joke thing. Didn’t girls do that? Kiss their friends as a joke? The kiss had certainly seemed harmless enough to her at the time. But what if it hadn’t been a joke? Oh god, was Chloe just messing with Warren or did she actually think that she and Max were dating? Wait, were they dating? No, Chloe would have said something. Or kissed her again. But why did she want Warren to think they were dating? God, this was so confusing. Her head was aching so badly it felt like she’d tried to go too far back in time. But she could always just ask Chloe herself what was going on.

Max opened the door to Chloe’s room and took the stairs down to the kitchen. As soon as she saw Chloe grinning up at her from, she knew the girl definitely had something to do with this.

“So,” Max began.

“So,” Chloe repeated, giving Max what she must have thought was her most innocent, angelic smile.

“I hear we have a date with Warren,” Max said, crossing her arms. 

Chloe waved her arm. “Warren has a date with himself. You have a date with me.” She gave Max a theatrical wink.

Max bit down the urge to smile. “Be serious, Chloe. What was this--” She waved her phone in the air. “all about? Warren thinks you and I are actually dating now.” She pulled out the chair across from Chloe and sat down. “Was this some kind of...weird prank?” _And if it was, on who? Me or Warren?_

“Well, since you’re obviously not into him and you’re too nice to reject him yourself, I figured he’d stop trying to get in your pants all the time if he thought you had a girlfriend,” She gestured to herself with both thumbs. “Namely, me. And it worked. Right?”

Max had to admit, there was a form of twisted logic at work in the other girl’s explanation. Judging by the texts, Warren did seem to have backed off a bit, and even seemed accepting of the fact that Max was suddenly gay and dating her childhood best friend now. He had even invited Chloe to Go Ape with them. 

“Okay, it did,” Max said. “But did you really have to invite yourself on my…not-date with Warren?”

“Hey, he invited me first. And I gotta make sure he’s not putting the moves on my woman, don’t I?” Chloe grinned. “Oh wait, Warren has no moves. Boom!” She slapped her hand on the table. “Roasted.”

Max snorted. “Jeesh, you are such a dork.”

“Your dork,” Chloe sang. 

“You’re in an awfully good mood this morning, Chloe,” Joyce said, striding into the room from the kitchen. “Anything I should be worried about, Max?” 

“No. Not yet, at least,” Max amended. She had the feeling this fake-dating Chloe thing was about to get complicated. Still, it would be nice to be able to hang out with Warren without having to worry about him hitting on her all the time. And it’d be nice going to the drive-in with her two closest friends instead of just one.

“Surprisingly, that does not make me worry less,” Joyce laughed. “Which reminds me. I didn’t see you come in this morning, Max. And if I’m not mistaken, you should be in class right now.” She put her hands on her hips, looking every inch the disapproving mother. Max was reminded of her own mother back in Seattle. 

“Uhh…” she floundered uselessly. She’d never been able to lie to Joyce.

“Come on, Mom,” Chloe whined. “One day off isn’t gonna kill her. Don’t you remember how many days I took off when I went to Blackwell?”

“Yes, and look how that turned out,” Joyce said flatly. “Well...alright. Not much I can do about it anyway, other than tell David, and he’s liable to blow this way out of proportion. Just don’t do it again, okay, sweetie? And you,” Joyce pointed her spatula at Chloe. “try not to be such a bad influence on Max.”

“Awh, but if I don't, how will she ever have any fun?” Chloe grinned. Max covered her laugh with a cough.

“Hush, or you can make your own lunch, missy,” Joyce warned. “Max, sweetie, could you come and help me in the kitchen for a tick?” 

“Sure thing, Joyce,” Max said, following her into the kitchen

“I’ll hold down the fort while you’re gone,” Chloe yelled. 

“Godspeed,” Max called back, laughing. 

“The way you two carry on sometimes, I swear,” Joyce shook her head fondly. 

“What was it you needed help with, Joyce?” Max asked. 

“Nothing, actually. I can manage making a couple of sandwiches on my own. I just wanted to talk to you one-on-one, Max.”

Max tried to look vaguely curious instead of mildly panicky. “What about, Joyce?” she asked with false nonchalance.

“I can understand why you’d be hesitant in telling me about you and Chloe,” Joyce began as she prepared two sandwiches. “But you’ve two’ve been two peas in a pod since…well, about as long as I can remember. No one’s been there for her like you have, except for Rachel, God rest her soul. Poor girl doesn’t have many people in her corner nowadays. I’ll always be glad you’re here for her, whether it’s as her best friend or her girlfriend. Definitely better than all of those boys she used to try to sneak into the house all hours of the night. Least I don’t have to worry about her getting pregnant anymore,” Joyce sighed. 

Max was too struck dumb to respond. She blinked stupidly at Joyce, who just smiled understandingly.

“Didn’t think I noticed, did you? I’m sharper than you think. But that being said,” Joyce added, handing Max two plates that the girl was surprised she had the presence of mind not to drop. “I sincerely hope you take better care of her than Rachel did, or I might have to have a few choice words with you. But for now, you and I are copacetic.” She gave Max a sunny smile, squeezing her gently on the shoulder. “Keep Chloe company, will you? I’ve got to do a quick grocery run.”

“Sure thing,” Max heard herself say. 

“Thanks, sweetie,” Joyce said, and with that, she was gone.

Max’s feet took her back to the dining room in autopilot mode. “Hey, Chloe?” she asked faintly, sliding the girls sandwich to her and sitting down next to the her. “Did you maybe, uh, accidentally CC your text to Warren to your mom, too?”

Chloe took a generous bite out of her sandwich. “Uh, no. Why?” she asked around a mouthful of ham and cheese.

“She thinks we’re dating.” 

Chloe choked on her sandwich. “Uh, what?”

“She thinks we’re dating,” Max repeated. 

“What.”

“I think she just gave me a shovel talk,” Max said wonderingly. 

“But you corrected her, right? You told her we aren’t dating?” 

Max thought back. Oh, god. She’d never actually corrected Joyce’s assumption, had she? “Uhh…”

“Holy shit,” Chloe said. “This is just like Pretty Woman.” 

“I guess. Except you’re not a prostitute,” Max reminded her politely.

“I totally fucking could be, though. Wait, you’ve actually seen Pretty Woman?”

“You’ve actually seen Pretty Woman?” Max shook her head. “Wait, we’re getting off topic here. Why does Joyce think I’m your girlfriend?” 

Chloe sat silently for a minute. “She saw us sleeping in the same bed this morning, didn’t she.”

A spark of realization went off in Max’s brain. “That explains the comment about not seeing me come in this morning. I bet she thinks I climbed in your window last night.”

“And spooned me until morning,” Chloe laughed. “Oh my god. My mom ordered you to protect my virtue. That is fucking priceless. No pun intended. Fake-dating you was the best idea I ever had.”

“Chloe?” 

“What?” 

“I...think you’re forgetting something.”

Chloe blinked. “What?”

“David kind of hates my guts and thinks I’m corrupting you,” Max said timidly. “And since he’s got secret cameras set up all over the house, there’s pretty much no way he isn’t going to find out about this.”

“...Shit.”


	2. Faking It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max couldn’t help but laugh, the memory of her strange reverie almost forgotten. Then she abruptly stopped. “Fake girlfriends? Is that what we are now?”
> 
> “Uh, I mean, yeah. We meet all the criteria. We’re both girls? Check. Everyone thinks we’re dating? Check. We (by which I mean you, Max) have done literally nothing to dispel this notion? Check.” Chloe said, counting off each point on her fingers as she spoke. Then she grinned mischievously. “Unless there’s something you want to tell me…” She winked theatrically.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry!!! I know it's been forever since I've updated but this fic is not dead, promise. I've just had a bunch of real life problems I've had to deal with, so finding time to seriously write has been hard! From now on I'll try to update regularly! Thanks for being so patient, and for saying such sweet things in the comments! I love all of you v much <3
> 
> I'm also thinking of doing a title change on this story, so just in case some ppl get confused: the original title of this story is Modern Romance!

“This is bad,” Chloe said, rapidly pacing her bedroom, where the two had gone to make a plan for dealing with Chloe’s “step-douche”. Max was shocked Chloe could manage pacing without stepping on any of the various objects (up to and including dirty clothes, old CDs, and a shabby, beaten-up old suitcase filled with empty beer bottles) that littered the floor. “This is super hella bad.”

“It’s not that bad,” Max lied, lifting her hands up in surrender when Chloe turned to her with an incredulous eyebrow raise. “Okay, maybe it is pretty bad…”

“Uh, yeah, no shit.”

“But,” Max continued. “It’s fixable. All we have to do is sneak into David’s room while he’s out and delete the footage. Easy. And I’m pretty sure Joyce won’t say anything to David about...this, so we don’t even need to worry about her. Then Joyce will come back from the store and we can explain we’re not dating.”

Chloe pounded her fist on her palm, grinning. “Damn, why didn’t I think of that? Maybe I really am the sidekick.”

Max laughed. “I told you,” she said. And then something occurred to her. “Wait...wouldn’t he notice if some of his footage is missing?”

Chloe looked at Max for a minute, processing this. She then let out a loud, exasperated groan and flopped backward onto her bed, covering her face with her pillow. 

“Sorry,” Max apologized. “I really thought we were onto something for a sec, Chloe.”

Chloe screamed into her pillow as a response.

“Well…” Max looked around the room, as if searching for something that would provide a spark of inspiration, a new plan. Anything. “We could. Uh.”

“Nope. Nothing we can do. We’re fucked,” Chloe said decisively. It seemed she’d gone through four of the five stages of grief in the past few minutes, and had finally arrived at acceptance. Max kind of envied her.

“There has to be something,” Max insisted. “Come on, Chloe, think.”

Chloe sighed, squinting her eyes shut and massaging her temples, making a theatrical display of thinking. After a solid minute of this, she gasped aloud. “That’s it!”

Max sighed, already knowing Chloe was just messing with her. “What’s it, Chloe,” she deadpanned. “Share with the rest of the class.”

Chloe shot up out of bed and grasped Max’s face in both hands, turning it towards her own face, as if to physically ensure that Max was paying the utmost attention to her every word. With the way Chloe was holding Max’s face, tilted upwards so that they were (almost) eye-to-eye, there was no way she could have missed a word. But apparently her brain hadn’t gotten the memo. 

She felt like TV static, a million thoughts flying through her head at once, a static-y buzz on the surface of her skin where Chloe’s hands met her face. Her hands are so cold, she thought, and then, her eyes are so blue. Every point of contact between the two was suffused with a prickling warmth; Max absentmindedly noted that this meant her face was likely flushed bright pink under Chloe’s hands. Can she feel it, too?

Then, Chloe’s hands fell from Max’s face to her shoulders; it was as if someone had flipped a switch. She was back in this reality. Max blinked a couple of times. Chloe was looking at her expectantly, probably waiting for Max to react to the joke she had made while Max was still a girl made of static. With a gun put to her head, Max couldn’t have recalled what the girl had said. But still, Max laughed hoarsely and spun away from Chloe, sitting gingerly on the edge of the girl’s bed. 

“Very funny,” she heard herself say. Her voice sounded steadier than she felt, but she still couldn’t bring herself to meet Chloe’s eyes as she spoke. “I guess if you’re not concerned about what David thinks, then I shouldn’t be either. I’m not the one who has to live with him.” 

Chloe looked at Max strangely for a minute, before shrugging and plopping down on the bed next to her. “And you should thank whatever god you pray to everyday that that’s the case,” Chloe informed her. Then she pressed her palms together, fingers intertwined in a mimic of prayer, closing her eyes as if in divine rapture. “Dear God,” she said in a high, quavering voice, “it’s me, Max. Thank you for not giving me a step-ass of my very own. I’ve seen Chloe’s, and I’m not impressed. Also, thanks for making my fake girlfriend so hot. I owe you one, G-man. Amen.” 

Max couldn’t help but laugh, the memory of her strange reverie almost forgotten. Then she abruptly stopped. “Fake girlfriends? Is that what we are now?”

“Uh, I mean, yeah. We meet all the criteria. We’re both girls? Check. Everyone thinks we’re dating? Check. We (by which I mean you, Max) have done literally nothing to dispel this notion? Check.” Chloe said, counting off each point on her fingers as she spoke. Then she grinned mischievously. “Unless there’s something you want to tell me…” She winked theatrically.

“No,” Max immediately said. Chloe pouted. “Not that you’re not prime real-girlfriend material,” she amended. “I’m sure you are.” Chloe grinned. 

“Only one way to find out!”

“Um. And what would that be? Are you asking me out, Chloe?” Max tried to say jokingly, but the words tasted strange on her tongue. Ugh. She was making this so awkward. First her brain’s little trip to outer-space when Chloe had held her face, and now her complete inability to make a simple flirty joke. The two had been trading these quips back and forth for a while now; what made now any different? The fact that in other people’s eyes they were pretty much an item now? While that was weird, she didn’t think that would bother her so much. She’d have to think harder about it later. 

“Why, do you want me to ask you out?” Chloe asked innocently. Max glared at her, unimpressed. “Like I said earlier: we’re already pretty much girlfriends to my mom and Warren,” Chloe said. “Let’s just take it to the next level!”

“What’s the next level, though?”

Chloe bounced on the bed. “Everyone thinks we’re dating.”

Max blinked. “Uh, pardon?”

“We already got each other into this mess (“You mean you got me into this mess,” Max interjected. Chloe just waved her hand dismissively and continued), so let’s just roll with it. You gotta admit, it’d be pretty fucking funny to see Step-douche go into apoplectic shock once he thinks we’re bumping uglies.”

Max cringed at the crude description. “And this solves our David problem how, exactly?”

Chloe deflated slightly. “It doesn’t,” she admitted. “We still have to work on that one. But! My idea is awesome. Just hear me out.”

“I’m listening, Chloe, but I have yet to hear anything awesome.”

“Rude,” she huffed, but continued. “Think about it, though. Plus, there’s no way Warren hasn’t blurted about our little movie date to at least a hundred people by now. All I’m saying is we milk this misunderstanding for all its worth.”

Max’s heart stuttered. She hadn’t thought about Warren. He wasn’t the type to spill secrets, but nothing in the texts she--or rather Chloe--had sent indicated that their...relationship was meant to be secret at all. If anything, the texts conveyed the exact opposite. She jumped up off of the bed and snatched her camera bag from where she’d left it, digging through it to find her phone. 

Seven missed texts. 

“Shit,” Max muttered. 

She scrolled through them numbly.

[ ](http://imgur.com/DhkYUxA)

  
That was...sort of sweet. In a dudebro sort of way. Max appreciated the thought, anyway. She didn’t realize Hayden even remembered who she was; she didn’t stand out that much.

[ ](http://imgur.com/7Qs1Lto)

  
Max had to smile slightly at that one. Dana was determined to get Max to that bash. Couples’ costumes, though? She’d have to explain to the other girl she and Chloe weren’t dating. Later, though. Briefly she wondered if it would be okay if she and Chloe wore matching costumes anyway. Pirates, maybe? She’d think about it. After all, she wasn’t even sure she was going to go. She opened up the messages from Juliet, Dana’s best friend, next.

[ ](http://imgur.com/Y1aTBHM)

Max had to roll her eyes at that one. _Oh, Juliet. Wherefore art thy subtlety?_

She was mildly surprised when she scrolled down to see she had a message from Brooke as well. Curious, she opened it.

[ ](http://imgur.com/CmIB9yA)

  
Max decided to respond to that one immediately.

[ ](http://imgur.com/tGAYkSY)

  
_He’d better ask her. I don’t want to have gotten Brooke’s hopes up for nothing…_

To her surprise, Brooke responded immediately. Maybe she’d been waiting with bated breath for Max’s response. _Poor Brooke. Warren’s so oblivious..._

[ ](http://imgur.com/Z1n9Tyd)

  
Max winced. Right...today had been a lab day. She would have to make that up on her own later. Which was slightly problematic, as she was a complete dunce in science and usually left most of the work up to her lab partner (which was better for the both of them, really). Maybe Warren could help her out? She resolved to ask him later.

She was about to type out a quick “thanks” to Brooke when someone wrapped their arm around her from behind. She started, but relaxed when she realized it was only Chloe, craning her neck over Max’s shoulder to get a better look at what she was typing. 

“Someone’s popular,” Chloe commented. Max rolled her eyes, moving her phone away so Chloe couldn’t see. 

“Not really.” Juliet only wanted a scoop for the Totem. All Brooke cared about was Warren. The only people who didn’t seem to have an ulterior motive or another agenda for texting her were Hayden and Dana. Hayden was just an affable guy in general: definitely the least assholish of all the Vortex Club members. He’d always been polite to her, at least. Dana made sense, too. The cheerleader had always been kind to Max, but ever since The Juliet Incident the two had been almost friends. Dana had even invited her to her Halloween bash...and Chloe now, too, apparently.

Max hesitated, before powering ahead. “Did you ever know Dana when you still went to Blackwell?”

Chloe’s brows furrowed deep in thought, before shooting up to her hairline as realization flooded her face. “Oh yeah! Cheerleader Dana,” Chloe nodded. “She’s good people. Not part of all that vapid Vortex Club bullshit. Ugh. I can’t believe they still do that.”

“Thank you,” Max said. “Finally someone agrees with me.” Then she remembered what she had wanted to say in the first place. “Dana invited us to her Halloween bash. Well. I was already invited. But now she wants you to come as my, uh, plus one.” 

Chloe lit up. “Sweet! We’re going, right?”

“I don’t know…” Max hedged. “I wasn’t planning on going.”

“What? Why not?”

“Parties just...aren’t my thing. You remember how I was in middle school.”

Chloe nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah. You always used to hide in the back of the room with the pretzels and punch.” 

“Hey, you always hid with me.”

“Only ‘cause you’re better company than all those horny-ass sixth-grade boys,” Chloe said. “Remember them?”

“I forgot about your little fan club,” Max teased in an attempt to hide how flattered she was by Chloe’s words (even though it really wouldn’t take much to be more pleasant company than the Chloe Price Fan Club). 

“Ugh, I wish I could forget. Anyway! Dana’s party would be fun! And we’ll get to hang together at Blackwell. Legally this time,” she added, obviously remembering their late-night swim in the pool. Max smiled slightly at the memory before she responded. 

“Well...okay. We’ll have to see if we can make time for it. One day off from Rachel research shouldn’t set us back too far…”

Chloe stiffened, but then plastered a fake smile on her face. “I guess. Who knows, maybe we’ll have found her before then…”

Max flashed a plastic smile of her own right back. “Yeah, maybe. The party doesn’t start until ten, so we could meet up before and compare our notes again.” It probably wouldn’t get them anywhere, but if it made Chloe happy then it was worth it. 

Chloe smiled at her: wider this time. Realer. “Yeah, good idea! I wish that was all we had to worry about, though...last time you had one of your visions you said the huge hurricane-tornado thingy was going to hit Arcadia Bay-” 

“In June,” Max interrupted, anxiety gnawing at her stomach at the thought. “The ninth of June. The day hasn’t changed any more since the last time it switched up.” She tried for a smile, but it probably looked more like a grimace. “I wish I knew why it changed in the first place, what made it happen...anyway, I’m sure we can put that on the backburner for a little while. Let’s just focus on Rachel for now.”

Max hadn’t had another vision in a while, and it was worrying. The last vision she had, something strange had happened. While she was absolutely certain that she’d had a vision that the hurricane was going to hit Arcadia Bay on October 11th, that had changed in her last vision. She’d had it just the other day. The newspaper she picked up in the vision looked exactly the same, only the date was June 9th instead. While obviously that was a good thing as she and Chloe had more time to stop it, Max couldn’t help but worry. If the date could change from the 11th to a day so much farther in the future, what was stopping the hurricane from deciding to come tomorrow? Today, even? She shivered slightly, but thankfully Chloe didn’t notice. The last thing the other girl needed was even more to worry about. She had enough on her plate with Rachel.

“Yeah, that’s more important,” Chloe agreed emphatically. “And we’ve got plenty of time to get that hurricane shit all worked out. Plenty of time,” Chloe said, puffing out her chest with bravado. It was a convincing act; Max almost believed her for a minute. “We’ll figure something out, Max. Don’t worry.”

“Yeah,” Max said softly. And then, stronger, more confident, “Yeah, we will. Together.” She grinned at Chloe, and then shot off a quick text to Dana confirming that both she and Chloe were coming to the party. She wasn't sure about the whole party thing until she knew Chloe would be coming with her. Now, the thought of going seemed almost fun.

“Now about the dating thing…” Chloe began.

“Chloe.”

  
\---

“All I’m saying is that it could be funny,” Chloe said as they paced around the coffee shop. “And if you want Warren to stay off your back, he has to still think we’re dating. If he realizes you’re still a single pringle then I did this for nothing.”

Max stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, coffee halfway to her lips. Chloe’d brought her to the coffee shop a while away from her house on their way back to Max’s dorm. The plan had been for Max to change into some fresh clothes so the two could go back and face the music with David, offer some explanation for themselves...that they had yet to come up with. The two were wandering around the lot outside as Max drank her coffee and Chloe chowed down on a chocolate muffin the size of her head, no closer to coming up with an idea. And now Chloe had brought up a pretty good point: if Max told the truth, it might be an even bigger mess than if she simply went along with the lie.

“Shit,” Max mumbled. “I didn’t think of that.”

“Wait, seriously?” Chloe grinned, crumbs spraying from her mouth as she spoke. It was charming and disgusting in equal measure. “I actually came up with a reason that’s good enough?”

“I mean, yeah…” Max began. “But...I guess I should just explain to Warren that we’re not dating. That this was just a joke you were playing on him.” But even as she was saying these words, she realized she couldn’t say them to Warren. It would be like….like kicking a puppy. Plus she’d have to subsequently explain to the entire school that she wasn’t dating Chloe...and God, what did everyone think of the fact that she was apparently dating a girl now? Blackwell and Arcadia Bay were pretty liberal, but she wasn’t stupid enough to think everyone there was OK with same-gender relationships. She took a nervous sip of her coffee, feeling a tight ball of anxiety forming in her chest.

Chloe huffed. “I mean, yeah, you could. If you wanted to be boring.”

“I…” Max chewed on her lip, rubbing her Styrofoam cup of coffee with her thumb. “Yeah. I don’t think I could do that to him. I...I’m not sure about this Chloe. I already have a big enough target on my back with Nathan breathing down my neck all the time…” She decided against telling the girl about the missing photographs and graffiti all over her wall. That would just freak her out. It certainly had Max on edge. “I don’t know if I want people thinking I’m...you know.”

“Yeah, I know,” Chloe said sarcastically. “You know, you can say it, it’s not a dirty word.” She somehow managed to look pissed off and badass even while chewing on a chocolate muffin. It was impressive. 

“No, no, I know,” Max said quickly. “You know I’m not a homophobe. We used to watch Xena together all the time; it doesn’t get more homoerotic than that. I just don’t want to deal with however people there feel about it. Just in case how they feel about it is...not good,” Max sighed. “Jeez, I wonder what they even think I am now? I’m pretty sure Alyssa asked me once at the start of the year. I obviously told her I was straight. I hope she doesn’t think I lied to her or didn’t trust her…”

“They’ll know you’re Chloesexual.”

“Chloesexual,” Max added, biting back a smile. “For sure. I just...don’t know how people would react. And I don’t think I’m in the right headspace at the moment to deal with finding out. With the time travel drama and everything.”

Chloe smiled, but then sobered quickly. “I mean...I get where you’re coming from. Like, really get it.” 

“Yeah, I guess you would. You must be having a hard time dealing with...Rachel,” Max said softly, not wanting to upset her friend. 

“No. I mean…” she sighed. “I am...uh, definitely depressed and pissed off and terrified about Rachel. Those are definitely things I am feeling at the moment. But I more meant like...I know how you feel about Blackwell. Knew.” Chloe was avoiding her eyes. This must be something serious. Worry began to chew on her stomach again, but Max ignored it this time.

“What do you mean, Chloe? Talk to me.” She clasped the other girl’s wrist and brought them both to sit on the boot of Chloe’s truck where it sat in the parking lot. The other girl came willingly. Max’s feet swung, barely scraping the tarmac, while Chloe’s laid flat on the ground. The other girl was only a few measly inches taller, but Max guessed that made a big difference. She itched to take a picture of their feet next to each other against the shining black, but managed to hold herself back. “You can tell me anything,” Max continued. “You know that.”

Chloe sucked in a deep breath, then turned to Max with a wide grin. It wasn’t fake this time, Max noticed with relief -- but it was a little wobbly. 

“Nah, never mind. It’s nothing.” Chloe laughed as she saw Max raise a single eyebrow in disbelief. “Okay, it’s not nothing...but it’s not a big deal. I’ll tell you later. But right now we need to get you back to Casa del Max for some new duds.” 

Max glanced down at the wrinkled shirt she’d slept in, remembering suddenly why they had gone out in the first place. “Oh, right. I have to change still.” 

Chloe lightly bonked Max on the head with her fist. “Doy. Did you really forget?” Max poked Chloe’s side in retaliation, the other girl shrieking with laughter and almost toppling off of her seat on the truck. 

“Come on, you dork,” Max said fondly. “Let’s go.” She hopped off of the back of Chloe’s truck and made to open the passenger side. She paused before she pulled open the door, looking over at Chloe who was on the other side about to slip into the driver’s seat. 

“Hey, Chloe…” she began.

“Yeah, whassup?”

“That thing you wanted to tell me earlier. About knowing what it felt like at Blackwell?”

Her smile became slightly pinched. “Yeah, what about it?” 

“You…” Max chewed her lip, searching for the right words. “No matter what it is you need to tell me about Blackwell, you can trust me with it. Promise. Whenever you’re ready, I’ll listen.” 

Chloe smiled at her, soft but real. “Yeah, yeah, I know. And I will. But first and foremost, we gotta get you dressed.” She let out a peal of laughter, sliding into the truck and starting the engine. Max followed suit, sliding into her own seat, feeling lighter and happier than she had in months.


	3. Exposure Control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max gets ready to meet the parents, and this fic's beta couple makes a surprise appearance :> so does Victoria because why the fuck not

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: rape mention! Nothing graphic though.

**Chapter 3:**

**Exposure Control**

Going back to Blackwell with Chloe had been a mistake.

Max clung to the strap of her camera bag nervously as she walked beside her friend. She felt everyone’s eyes dragging across her skin as they made what felt like excruciatingly slow progress towards the girls’ dorms.

“I think people are staring at us,” Chloe said.

“Uh, yeah, kind of,” Max said. “I’d say that’s an understatement, actually.”

“What’s wrong?” Chloe suddenly shouted at a student Max couldn’t remember the name of at the moment. “Never seen a couple of gal pals lezzing it up before?”

Max buried her face in her palms as the girl stuttered out an apology and practically ran away.

“Well. I’m going to have to apologize to her later,” Max sighed. “I guess we’re really going through with this, then, huh?”

“Hey, that’s your choice.”

“I mean, not really. You pretty much announced it to the whole campus just now...plus the news has probably gone through the whole school by now, judging by the looks we’re getting...”

Chloe blinked. “I did? I did. Shit. Sorry, Max.”

Max sighed, smiling tiredly at Chloe. “It’s fine. I’ve already decided, anyway: telling the truth would be more trouble than it’s worth, I think. Plus, I don’t think anyone would believe me at this point…”

Chloe bit her lip. “Then I’m sorry I got you into this mess in the first place. Me and my bullshit just keep dragging you down, huh?”

“Come on, Chloe, that’s not--”

“No, seriously; don’t even try to say it’s okay and I didn’t do anything wrong, ‘cause it isn’t and I did. Lying to your stalk--to _Warren_ was a shitty thing to do without asking you first. So yeah. I’m sorry.” She shuffled her feet awkwardly, looking down at her boots.

Max smiled and wrapped her arms around Chloe’s waist. “You’re forgiven.”

Chloe laughed, wrapping an arm around Max’s shoulders and squeezing lightly. “Wow, okay. If I knew it was gonna be this easy I’d apologize more often.”

“Shut up,” Max grinned, ending the hug so she could lightly slap Chloe on the shoulder. “...Plus, the Warren thing was a pretty good idea. I actually probably would’ve said yes if you’d asked.” she admitted. It had been getting harder and harder to spend time with him lately due to his big fat crush on her, to the point where she almost stopped spending time with Warren at all. Maybe this whole fake-dating thing really would help. It was worth a try; she didn’t want to lose her closest friend at Blackwell over a dumb crush.

“Seriously? Sweet. This is gonna work, trust me.”

“I do,” Max said. “Even though I probably shouldn’t.”

“Alright then! Let’s do this shit!” Chloe cheered. “By the time we’re through Warren will be asking you for girl advice; that’s how absolutely, totally, completely gay and unavailable you’ll be to him.”

“Um. Sounds good?”

“Hell yeah it does. Come on, let’s get back to your dorm; we’re burning daylight!”

* * *

 

“Juliet!” Kate said, hiding her surprise at seeing the other girl with a smile. “It’s good to see you, really, but I was expecting--”

“Dana, right?” Juliet said. Kate nodded, blushing. The cheerleader had come to see Kate almost every week. At first Kate thought Dana felt bad for her and had decided to visit Kate to make up for the bullying she had endured, but Dana’s joy at seeing Kate each week seemed...genuine. Not forced. As if she was here because she wanted to be and not because she felt she should be. It was a breath of fresh air. She hated to be so transparent in her disappointment at not seeing Dana today as she expected. However, to her immense relief, Juliet didn’t seem upset or offended.

“Yeah, sorry. Dana couldn’t make it today. Something about planning her Halloween Bash,” Juliet said, sitting on the plastic chair by Kate’s bed, slipping her pure off of her shoulder and onto the floor as she did. “which everyone seems super excited for by the way, even though it totally won’t be the same without you, Kate. But who knows! Maybe you’ll be out by then.”

Kate smiled wanly. “Oh, yeah. Maybe.” She didn’t know if that would be happening (in fact, she was quite sure it wouldn’t happen), but she didn’t want to disappoint Juliet by saying so.

“Dana showed me the cutest angel costume earlier today,” Juliet squealed, pulling out her phone. She flipped through her photos until she found what she was looking for, handing the phone to Kate so she could take a look. “She really wanted to show you, but…”

“She couldn’t make it,” Kate finished for her.

“Yeah, exactly!” Juliet grinned. “So usually Dana and I go to costume parties as, like, a sexy devil and a sexy angel. Like, that’s been our thing since middle school. I’m always the angel, of course.”

“Of course,” Kate said, fighting the urge to scrunch up her nose at the mention of sexy costumes based on religious figures. Not that she considered it blasphemy or offensive, or anything. After what she’d done--no, what she’d been through, Max had always told her it wasn’t her fault, her therapist told her it wasn’t her fault--after what she’d...endured, it would be hypocritical. It was just that the idea of sexy anything made her stomach turn nowadays, ever since that one Vortex Club party. She knew nothing...untoward had happened. She would remember that, right? But it didn’t stop the unclean feeling she got whenever she thought about sex. It brought to mind “WHORE” scrawled on bathroom mirrors in catty red lipstick, balls of paper aimed at her head and filled with insults and ridicule, the filmy, inky blackness that filled her head whenever she tried to remembered what in God’s name had _happened_ to her…

Juliet poked her on the shoulder. “You’re not looking, Kate! You totally spaced just now, wow.” She must have seen some expression on Kate’s face, because she softened her voice and asked, “Hey, are you alright? Should I leave? I didn’t mean to bother you, I know you probably don’t want to see me, I just…”

“What? No! Of course I want to see you,” Kate cried. “Did...did I do something to make you think I don’t like you? I’ve always thought you were nice. You’ve always been nice to me.”

Juliet bit her lip, spinning her class ring around one finger. The sapphire in the center was about the size of Kate’s thumb. “I...I haven’t always been nice to you,” she said in a small voice. It was quiet, almost inaudible, but the weight behind the words shook Kate from her thoughts. “That’s the problem. You’re treating me like we’re friends or something, when I’d probably still be talking behind your back to this stupid fucking day about that stupid fucking video if it weren’t for Max explaining to me why I’m such a fucking asshole.”

“I don’t. I don’t understand.”

Juliet smiled thinly. “Long story short, I’m an asshole, Kate. I was an asshole. To you. Sharing that video like it was something to laugh about, like you deserved it or had it coming...no one deserves that. But especially not you. And especially not from someone...from someone who’d like to be your friend. If you’ll have her. Even though she’s an asshole.”

“Oh, Juliet,” Kate said. She wasn’t sure what else she _could_ say. _She almost added, Hey, at least you didn’t write an article about it for the Totem!_ , but she wasn’t so sure that would help. It might actually hurt.

The other girl looked down at her hands, picking at her cuticles. Kate could hear tears coming on based on the hitch in the other girl’s breathing. She was unsurprised to feel tears prickling in her own eyes.

“Juliet. It means a lot to me. That you’d apologize. It really does,” Kate said, putting one hand over Juliet’s. The other girl looked up at her in shock. “I forgive you.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Wow, Kate. That’s big of you. I’m not sure _I’d_ forgive me. I guess that’s the power of Christian forgiveness, huh?”

“Um, maybe!” Kate laughed. “Mostly I just don’t like being mad at people.”

Juliet grinned. “I’ll make this up to you, Kate, I promise. I’m really glad I came to see you today, seriously. I’ll totes be coming more often.” She snapped her fingers. “Oh, shit! That reminds me, the angel costume. Dana wanted me to show you in case you get out in time for her Bash. I’m going to be at a journalism convention that day so I won’t be able to be Dana’s angel this year. But she thought you’d be perfect for the role.” At the look on Kate’s face, she quickly added, “Oh, don’t worry, it’s not the sexy costume! Dana knows you wouldn’t like that. It’s super cute, though, look!”

Kate looked down at Juliet’s phone from where it rested in her lap. A model with glazed eyes posed stiffly in a white dress that flowed down to her knees and was cinched at the waist with a golden sash. Attached to the model’s back was a pair of fluffy, snow-white wings. The look was completed by a gold halo attached to her head with translucent plastic wire. It was actually quite lovely. And rather modest, too.

“It’s beautiful,” Kate admitted. “I’d love to be the angel this year! If...if I can go, that is. Tell Dana not to get her hopes up, please, I’d really hate to disappoint her…”

“Oh, don’t even worry about it!” Juliet waved away Kate’s concerns with one hand. “She gets it. She said she didn’t mind if she had to be a lonely devil this year. She just said if you do happen to be out by Halloween, that she wanted to match with you. That’s all. No disappointment here.”

“Well, if you’re sure...tell her I’ll definitely try to be free!”

Juliet beamed. “Great! Oh, and one more thing…” She reached down into her bag and pulled out a stack of newspapers, plopping them onto Kate’s lap with a dull thud.

“I thought, y’know, maybe since you’re so far from Blackwell for now, you’d like to not be too behind,” Juliet explained. “Bringing in your homework seemed like, too stressful for you right now? So I just brought all of the _Blackwell Totem_ s that you’ve missed! Even if you can’t keep up with classes right now, you can at least keep up with all the latest news.”

Kate smiled at her, already flipping through the papers. “Thanks, Juliet, this was really thoughtful of you! I’ll definitely start looking through these right away.”

“Aw, it was nothing,” Juliet said. “I even put a copy of today’s _Totem_ in there, and that hasn’t even gone out around school yet! I thought it might be nice for you to be the first one to get it. I gotta go back to Blackwell now, but definitely lemme know what you think!” Juliet pulled Kate into a hug with one arm, putting her bag back on her shoulder with the other.“I’ll see you soon, though, yeah?”

“Yeah, I’d like that,” Kate said, wrapping her own arms around Juliet in a quick goodbye hug. “Thanks for coming, Juliet. I’ll see you soon!”

Juliet smiled and waved, shutting the door behind her when she left.

Kate felt the warmth in her chest that had steadily built during Juliet’s visit dissipate. She was alone again, alone with her thoughts. Kate scowled, an uncharacteristic expression on her face, for sure. _No, Kate, don’t think like that; you’ll just get depressed again...you’ve gotta concentrate on getting better, so you can go to the Halloween Bash with Dana._

Her search for something else to focus on took her to the _Totem_ s that Juliet had left behind. She searched through them, reading an article here and there, and pointedly ignoring the one about her suicide attempt and Max’s heroic rescue (definitely _not_ what she needed to focus on right now). Eventually, she came to a paper that had today’s date printed on it in black ink. _This must be the paper Juliet was talking about…_

Her eyes slowly widened as she read the front page.

**“BLACKWELL’S NEW IT COUPLE…DIVERSITY ON CAMPUS!”**

And in the photo next to that headline, printed in bright color, was a photo of two girls. A taller girl with electric blue hair that had her arm wrapped around the shoulder of another girl…and that girl was Max.

Kate had definitely missed more than she’d thought.

* * *

 

“Okay, let me just dig around in my closet for something,” Max said, pulling out her room key. “And I should probably feed Kate’s bunny, too.” _And Lisa...I’m the worst at being a plant-mom._

“Ooh, I wanna hold it,” Chloe said eagerly. “Kate probably wouldn’t mind.”

“Um. Probably not, yeah, but…” Max hedged. “My room’s kind of a mess right now, you don’t wanna see it.”

“Please,” Chloe scoffed. “You _have_ seen my room, right?”

Max let out a sigh, relenting. She hadn’t wanted Chloe to see Nathan’s little message, but she really had no choice. She unlocked the door and swung it open. “Okay, but...don’t freak out, alright?”

“And I repeat: you _have_ seen my room, ri- _what the fuck._ ”

Max bit her lip, closing the door behind her and Chloe. “Yeah. Turns out you were right about snitching on Nathan being a bad idea.” But she honestly wouldn’t go back and change a thing. If there was even the tiniest chance that Nathan would have used that gun on someone else...she didn’t even want to entertain the thought.

Chloe scowled. Max could see the girl’s ears poking out from Chloe’s blue hair; the tips were reddened with anger. “That fucking creep is _so dead_.”

“Don’t, Chloe. He’s not worth it--”

“The hell he isn’t! He almost _raped_ me! I don’t even want to fucking think about what he could do to you. Shit, Max…” Chloe sighed, combing her fingers through her bangs with obvious agitation. “Relax, okay? I’m not gonna do anything to him. But only because if I kill him he can’t rot in fucking prison for the shit he did to Kate.” She sighed. “Damn. Okay. Let’s just get you dressed and get out of this place, alright?”

“Alright,” Max said. “Fine by me.”

“And you’re not sleeping here tonight. You’re sleeping over at my place tonight. No buts.”

“But I-”

“What did I just say, Max?”

“But Chloe, I--”

“Max.” Chloe poked her in the chest. “What did I say?”

Max sighed, but she was smiling. “You said no buts. Alright, it’s a sleepover then. But you’ll have to think of some way to sneak me out without people seeing. People’ll notice if I’m not in my dorm two days in a row.”

“Don’t even trip, man. They’ll just think you spent the night with your bangin’ GF.”

“That’s exactly what I’m worried about.” But no; she’d already committed to the idea of fake-dating Chloe. It was a good plan; she’d admitted it herself. If she couldn’t deal with a few girls in the dormitory thinking she and her “bangin’ GF” were.... _bangin_ ’, then there was no hope for this plan to work out. She had to girl the hell up and deal with the gossip. The end result would be worth it: she’d finally be able to hang out with Warren without him trying to hit on her. It didn’t hurt that she’d be able to spend some time with Chloe at the drive-in; with all the apocalyptic visions and Rachel research going on, she and Chloe hadn’t really spent much time together. Their “date” with Warren would be the perfect opportunity.

“Oh, Mrs. Caulfield,” Chloe said, blinking her eyelashes rapidly. “Are you perhaps worried people will...talk?”

“Screw you,” Max laughed. “Alright. I guess it doesn’t matter what people say if they already think we’re dating.”

“Exactly! Let ‘em talk.”

Max rolled her eyes, biting back a smile as she turned to her closet to pick out something to wear. _I should wear something nice for once...I’m basically meeting the ‘rents, after all._ She gnawed on her lip as she combed through her closet, shoulders slowly sinking more and more as she came to the realization that she didn’t really own anything nice. _What I wouldn’t give to have Victoria’s closet right now...maybe one of her designer shirts would convince David I’m not some pothead._

“What’s taking so long?” Max heard Chloe call from the other side of the room.

“I’m trying to find an outfit that won’t make David want to murder me on sight.”

Chloe snorted. “No such thing. Unless you have a US army uniform lying around somewhere?”

“No such luck.”

“Damn.”

Max turned to see what Chloe was doing to occupy herself. The blue-haired girl was sprawled on Max’s bed, her stuffed bear resting on her stomach as she traced the photos on Max’s selfie wall with one finger. Chloe scowled as she scraped at the red paint with one finger, attempting to chip it off the wall to no avail. She needed to get Chloe’s mind on something else, or the other girl really would probably murder Nathan.

“Go ahead and feed Kate’s bunny, Chloe, there’s some baby carrots by her cage, I think.” Max said. “I’m going to go borrow an outfit from Dana.” She hadn’t known this was her plan until the words were out of her mouth. It was a decent enough idea; Dana was as fashion conscious as Victoria. Just without the snooty attitude and weird dislike of brown-haired, hipster-y photography nerds. Yeah, Dana would probably have something decent to loan her.

Chloe looked as if she wanted to ask why Max needed to borrow an outfit, but also desperately wanted to feed the bunny. Then she shrugged. “...okay, knock yourself out. I know I will.”

Max rolled her eyes. “Just don’t overfeed it.”

“You wound me, madam. I am the very picture of moderation.”

* * *

 

As it turned out, Dana was very eager to give Max a hand, especially once Max explained what she needed the outfit for.

“You’ll have to beat the boys--and girls, or any gender really--off with a stick in this outfit,” Dana gushed, rushing Max over to a mirror.

“I don’t know, Dana,” Max said hesitantly, eyeing her reflection. “I’m, uh, more of a pacifist, really…”

“Beat them off with your words, then! Either way, you look good.”

“Thanks, Dana, but I don’t know if this is, uh, my style?”

“Oh, come on, Max. Live a little! Try something new!”

Max turned in the mirror, eyeing the dress warily. Dana had set her up in a mint green dress with butterfly sleeves. The garment was cinched at the waist with a simple braid knot belt, from which the asymmetrical skirt flowed out to just above her knees. The outfit was simple, sure, which was nice. The conservative neckline certainly helped. But it was just so…

“Cute,” Max complained. “It’s too...cute for me.”

“Don’t you want to look cute?” Dana asked incredulously.

“Um. I guess. But it’s just not...me. I’m not really a ‘cute’ kind of girl.”

“I beg to differ! And I bet your girlfriend does too!” Dana huffed. “But if it makes you uncomfortable, I probably have something else around here somewhere….”

“No, no, this is fine! Perfect, actually. I’m just a little, uh, self-conscious. I guess.”

Dana wrapped her arms around Max’s shoulder from behind, pulling her into a wobbly hug. “Aw, Max! Don’t be. Easier said than done, yeah, but you’re super cute. You’ve got one girl on your arm and a boy trailing behind. That’s gotta mean something.”

“Mnn,” Max said non-committally.

“You don’t think so?”

“I mean…”

“You don’t think your girlfriend sees you as cute?”

Did she think Chloe saw her as cute? In a small, pathetic woodland creature sort of way, she might. But as “girlfriend material”? Definitely not. Rachel Amber was more Chloe’s type. Cold iron bands squeezed her chest. She knew this was true, she’d always known it was true. She knew she’d abandoned Chloe, had no right to...to feel sadness, to feel jealousy, at the importance Rachel Amber had taken on in Chloe’s life during Max’s absence. But why jealousy at this? Max always knew she wasn’t beautiful. She hadn’t seen Rachel Amber until a month ago, but she immediately knew Rachel was beautiful, was certainly more beautiful than she was. It didn’t make any sense.

Apparently Max’s silence was very telling, because Dana squeezed her tighter with one arm as she whipped her phone out of her pocket with the other.

“Well, we’ll see what the internet thinks, then!” Dana said, pulling Max closer into her camera shot. “Maybe that’ll boost your... _selfie-esteem_.” She punctuated the pun with finger guns.

Max groaned. “You sound like Mr. Jefferson.”

“Then I know what I’m talking about! Now smile for the camera.” Dana herself pouted her lips in almost an exaggerated fashion, lifting her hand slightly from Max’s shoulder to make a peace sign. Max couldn’t help but laugh.

_Flash._

“You look so cute!” Dana squealed. She handed Max her phone, so she could see. “Ok to post?”

“Yeah, sure,” Max said, blinking.

It was a nice picture; Max could admit that much. Dana had caught her off guard, right in the middle of a laugh. She was smiling, unselfconsciously and seemingly without a care in the world.

Dana took back her phone, grinning. “Alright! Posted. Now I’ll go get you some matching shoes. I think I have a pair of Jimmy Choos that’ll look cute…”

“No high heels.”

“Boo, you whore,” Dana whined. “Not even, like, three inches? That’s short! Tiny! Eensy weensy!” She held out her forefinger and thumb in an approximation of the size of the heel, as if to illustrate her point.

“Afraid not.”

The cheerleader stuck her tongue out. “You’re no fun.”

* * *

 

Of course she had to bump into Victoria of all people as she was leaving Dana’s dorm.

Max shrunk in on herself, clutching her camera bag to her chest, expecting some sort of snide comment as she tried walked past.

Victoria stepped in front of Max, blocking her path. She scowled. “You.”

“Um. Me?”

Her scowl deepened, making tiny, barely visible spiderweb cracks in her makeup. She reached into her bag and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. “I don’t care if you’re dead or if you wanna lez it out with your girlfriend or whatever the hell you do in your free time, don’t miss class again,” she snapped. Then she leaned in, taking on a tone that would almost be conspiratorial if it weren’t for the obvious vitriol lining her words. “You’re _pretty_ annoying, Max, but not as annoying as having Daniel _fucking_ DaCosta as a partner would be. Don’t. Be. Late. Again. Or else.” She punctuated her sentence by shoving the piece of paper into Max’s face. Max flinched, but managed to grab the piece of paper.

“Victoria, what -” Max began, but as soon as she looked up from the crumpled paper the girl was gone. Heart pounding, Max looked down at the note. It looked like...an assignment of some sort? She studied it further, trying to flatten out the wrinkles more as she did.

**MIDTERM Photography FINAL - A Day in the life**

**For this project, I expect you to show me a day in the life of your chosen subject through your camera lens. You and your partner will:**

  * ****Decide on your Subject (must be a person)****


  * **Capture a day in your subject’s life on photo**


  * **You may do this every day until the project deadline, but you can only turn in** **one**   **d** **ay.**


  * **Due Date: October 31st**



“Uh oh,” Max groaned. This...was not going to be easy. _Seriously? I skip_ one _day and end up with Victoria as a partner? What kind of vengeful god did I anger, jeez…_

That wasn’t all, apparently. Looking closer, Max could see a small note scrawled in pencil at the bottom of the paper. She groaned again as she recognized Victoria’s looping, needlessly complicated handwriting.

_Caulfield -_

_We need to talk about this assignment. Courtyard at 4pm next Monday. If you don’t show up I’m going solo and you can take your fucking chances with DaCosta...if ~~Mark~~ Mr. Jefferson even lets you, which isn’t likely._

_If I were you, I’d pick me._

_Victoria Chase_

_P.S.  Bring your girlfriend._

Max calmly folded the paper, put it into her pocket, sucked in a deep breath, and pressed her face into her camera bag, muffling the frustrated screech she then let out. She lifted her head, took in a calming breath.

“Fuck my life,” she said.

“Same,” some Vortex Club drone called out as he walked past her.  
  



	4. A Modicum of Decorum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which Max Meets the Parents Except Not Really Because They've Definitely Met Before

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: discussion of violence, trauma, abuse, PTSD, drugs
> 
> In this chapter i do get into David's treatment of Chloe, namely him hitting her. i really wasn't satisfied with how DONTNOD dealt with David, like he had redeemed himself just because (spoiler) he saved Max at the end. I am not a fan of David and don't plan on making things that easy for him lmao
> 
> but because this subject matter is so sensitive I want to say if any of this applies to your own life, please dont be afraid to get help.
> 
> also i've tried my best to deal with this subject in the most respectful way possible, but if i fall short in any way please dont hesitate to let me know. the last thing i want to do is offend abuse victims in any way!

Max stood at her dorm room door, fist poised over the wood, ready to knock. Something was stopping her from completing the action. She had calmed herself down in the bathroom after her anxiety-inducing run-in with Victoria, and had even (mostly) come to terms with having to partner up with the other girl. So why was she shaking so badly? Why did her knuckles refuse to make contact with the door? It defied explanation. She shifted her weight from foot to foot, picking at the hem of her borrowed dress with pale, nervous fingers. _Stupid. Just knock already!_

And so she did. She only managed to tap her knuckles on the door once before it swung open and Chloe’s blue, beanie-covered head popped out.

“Fucking finally, I was starting to think Dana was like, holding you hostage or some - oh!” Chloe cut herself off, mouth opening in a small O. If she stared closely enough, Max could almost see the pinkening of the tips of the other girl’s ears.

Max nervously shuffled her feet, clutching at the strap of her camera bag. “Yeah, I know, it’s a little much, but…”

“Ho. Ly. Shit,” Chloe said. She grabbed Max’s shoulders, shaking her gently, “You look so. Good. I would dyke on you so hard right now.”

“Uh...thanks,” Max said, unsuccessfully willing herself not to flush bright pink.

“Does that plunge all the way down?” Chloe blurted, maneuvering Max so she could peer over her shoulder at the back of the dress. “Ooh, yes she does.”

“Stop it,” Max whined, batting Chloe’s hands away.

“Aww, don’t be like that, Max,” Chloe laughed. “You look...gorgeous. And pretty. And uh...stuff. Seriously.”

“Oh,” Max awkwardly rubbed her shoulder. “Thanks, Chloe.” And, before things could get any more awkward, she added, “We should probably get going.”

“Oh! Right!” Chloe nodded. “You head out to the truck, I’m right behind you.”

“Great,” Max said. “And holy shit, you’ll never believe what happened on my way back here…”

* * *

 

“You what? She _what_?”

“I know,” Max groaned. “And that’s not the worst of it.”

“You have to spend time with _Victoria,_ ” Chloe said. “Extended amounts of time!”

“I know.”

“With _Victoria_!”

“I know!”

“How could it possibly get any worse?”

“Well…” Max said slowly. “She wants you to come along, too.”

Chloe fell silent. “Huh,” she spoke after a while. “That really is worse.”

Max couldn’t help but laugh. “I told you.”

“The hell does she want with _me_?” Chloe groused as she turned the key in the ignition. The truck roared to life. “I haven’t done anything to her. And I don’t know jack shit about photography.”

“I haven’t done anything to her, either! She only chose me because she doesn’t want to be paired with Daniel...I don’t know why. He’s a better student than I am,” Max shook her head. “But why she wants you to come along...I have no clue,” Max admitted. “I guess we’ll see?”

“Ohhh no,” Chloe shook her head. “No, no, nope. _Hell_ nope. There is no way I’m gonna hang with that bitch for any longer than I had to at Blackhell.”

“She’s really not that bad,” Max protested weakly.

“Oh, trust me, Max. She is,” Chloe said. Then she sighed dramatically. “Which is why I have no choice but to put myself in between you and her wrath. Ah, the things I do for love…”

“My knight in shining armor,” Max said sarcastically, grinning as Chloe took her eyes off of the road long enough to poke her tongue out at her petulantly.

“You should be thanking me for such an enormous sacrifice, you ungrateful swine.”

“Oink, oink.”

“Fuck you,” Chloe responded sweetly, removing one hand from the wheel long enough to poke Max in the cheek with her middle finger. Max snorted out a hand, pushing away the digit.

“Well, thanks. For deciding to come with me.”

“What kind of fake girlfriend would I be if I didn’t?” Chloe said. “Better brace yourself for impact, by the way. We’re almost there.”

“Oh geez,” Max groaned. “I think I might puke.”

“Ew. Not in my car.”

“Wow, I’m really feeling the love.”

“ _Tough_ love, babe. Get used to it.”

Max was still processing that new nickname when Chloe pulled up outside of the Price household.

Chloe cut the engine. “Well. Here we are.”

“Here we are,” Max repeated. Neither made any move to exit the car.

“Ok, so here’s the thing,” Chloe said, breaking the silence that had permeated the vehicle. “Fuck this.”

“Fuck this indeed,” Max agreed.

“God, why does it even fucking matter what my step-ass does or doesn’t know about us, anyway?”

“I mean...in the grand scheme of things? Not very much. But…”

“But we gotta get out ahead of whatever David’s thinking,” Chloe said in an actually quite good imitation of Max’s voice. “Yeah, I know. Still blows.”

Max gave Chloe an encouraging pat on the head. “It’ll be quick and painless. Promise.”

“Next you’ll be saying “Look at the flowers, Chloe”! Well, I won’t fall for it.”

“Sweet _Of Mice and Men_ reference. Not dated at all.”

“You’re one to talk about dated, Miss Polaroid Camera.”

“Shut up, I can tell you’re just stalling,” Max scolded. “Let’s face the music, Chloe.”

“Fiiiiiine,” the other girl whined. “Let’s get it over with already.”

“Thank you,” Max said, pulling on the car door’s handle. It wouldn’t budge. “Um?”

“Oh, shit, yeah,” Chloe slapped her forehead with a palm. “I keep forgetting the driver’s side lock doesn’t open the passenger door anymore. Just one more on the laundry list of problems with my beautiful mess of a ride, am I right? Here, you can unlock it from your side. Let me show you -” Chloe leaned over Max..

It was shockingly intimate. They were in a compressed space, after all. She could feel the heat rolling off of Chloe’s body, smell the scent of her deodorant - not women’s deodorant, certainly; the scent was sharp, spicy, and definitely a brand of deodorant marketed towards men, though it smelled so right on Chloe - and if Max only lifted her face up a fraction, if Chloe only turned slightly to the left, their lips would be touching. It wouldn’t even be the first time...it would be so simple, she could do it right now if she wanted to -

Her thought process was mercifully interrupted by the noise of the door unlocking. “There!” Chloe grinned. “Try it now.”

Max turned away to hide her flaming cheeks, jerking the door open and stepping out with an almost robotic movement. _If I don’t stop this right now, I’m going to make this so awkward! What is wrong with my stupid brain? I’m not even…_

“Earth to Max!” Chloe snapped her fingers in front of Max’s face rudely. “Let’s go!”

“Fine, fine,” Max sighed, smiling despite herself, her previous freak-out forgotten. “Time to face the music.”

* * *

 

Dinner wasn’t as awful as Max had expected.

Oh, it was pretty darn awful. That was undeniable. It was tense and awkward, and there was a worrying vein bulging on David’s forehead from his barely-suppressed anger (Chloe had whispered to Max a guess on how long it would take to burst; Max barely avoided bursting into laughter herself). But Joyce seemed to have the man on a leash for once. Though he spoke little - and every word came through gritted teeth - he was shockingly cordial, considering.

Dessert, however, was another story.

The dessert itself was delicious - obviously, since Joyce had made it. A peach cobbler that had Max’s mouth watering as soon as it hit the table. Or, at least, Max thought it was probably delicious. She didn’t get the chance to find out, because shit hit the fan before she could even pick up her fork.

“No thank you,” David had said gruffly before Joyce could serve him a slice of the dessert.

Joyce had frowned. “What’s wrong? You love peach cobbler.”

The vein bulging on David’s forehead was thrown into even sharper relief as he clenched his jaw tighter. “You told me to play nice, and I have, but I’m not gonna sit here any longer and pretend that I’m fine with this, Joyce.”

Max’s heart dropped into her chest. Logically she knew that she and Chloe wouldn’t be able to escape the table without incident, but she’d sort of hoped deep down that they would.

“What are you, a homophobe?” Chloe scowled at him. “That's a new low, even for you -”

“Now you listen here -”

“ _David._ ” Joyce said, a firmness in her voice that silenced everyone at the table. “Let’s talk about this like civilised human beings, shall we?”

“I don’t know about you, but I don’t see any civilised beings at this table,” Chloe snapped. And then shot Max a sheepish glance. “No offense.”

“Um. None taken. I guess.”

Joyce sighed. “David’s just worried about you, Chloe. Aren’t you?”

David looked as if he’d rather take the fork off his plate and jam it in his throat before he’d respond to that question with a yes or no. “I don’t know why the hell we’re letting _her_ into our goddamn home after she brought that _shit_ here!”

So this was about the weed. Max should’ve figured. David had been on her case ever since she stood between him and Kate, but the Weed Incident, as Chloe had taken to calling it, had officially put Max on David’s Shit List. And the weed hadn’t even been hers.

She’d kept hidden in Chloe’s closet at first. After all, if she took the fall for Chloe this time, she could’ve gotten her scholarship revoked, would have had to kiss Blackwell goodbye, would have been shipped straight back to Seattle to some random school where she’d be learning photography from some bored teacher who got paid too little to give a shit instead of a celebrity photographer like Mr. Jefferson. Chloe had told her to hide, anyway, which gave Max the impression Chloe had been in this kind of predicament before. She’d be fine.

...is what Max thought, up until David’s palm hit Chloe’s face.

She hadn’t even thought about it. Her hand shot up on its own and she wound herself back in time.

It hadn’t endeared her much to David, but in her opinion it was worth it. And hey, she hadn’t even gotten expelled.

“Max didn’t do anything!” Chloe snapped. “It was my weed, okay? So get the hell off my girlfriend’s back already!”

 _Girlfriend._ The word was said with a possessive sort of indignation Max had never heard from Chloe before.

David just scowled at the blue-haired girl. “You’re just covering for her. Well, I’m not falling for that, missy.”

Chloe barked out a laugh. “ _Missy_? What is this, fucking Full House?”

“Stop this at once,” Joyce snapped in an uncharacteristically fierce tone of voice. “You two are acting like children, and last time I checked everyone at this table was an adult. Am I wrong?”

Chloe’s mouth snapped open and then shut again when she couldn’t come up with a retort. David had no such problem.

“I’m not going to act like everything’s hunky-dory here, Joyce. I’m not taking more shit from a barely-grown pissant at my own dinner table than I did from my CO in the goddam war!”

“Last time I checked, David,” Joyce said coldly, “it was just my name on the mortgage of this house. And if you expect that to change any time soon, I’d advise you to be a little more cordial in the presence of my daughter and her girlfriend. Do I make myself clear?”

Now it was David’s turn to gape like a fish. Max felt the absurd urge to start applauding, like she was the studio audience of a show where Joyce and David were the stars.

Satisfied with David’s silence, Joyce smiled. “Now. Way I see it we have two options. Either you two - yes, I’m including you too, Chloe, you’re not off the hook - leave this table until you can act like a civilised human being, or call a truce right here at the table before dessert gets cold. I don’t know about y’all, but I much prefer the second option. Don’t you, Max?”

Max blinked in shock for a moment at the unexpected lasso-ing of herself into the conversation. “Y-Yeah.”

Joyce nodded, apparently satisfied with Max’s max’s monosyllabic response. “Alright then! Chloe?”

Chloe sighed. “If it’s the only way I get to eat, then I’m down.”

“Not the most altruistic motive, Chloe, but I’ll take it. David?”

David jerked his head stiffly. “Fine.”

And with that, dinner continued, if a little more tense than before, Chloe and David thoroughly chagrined into silence and Max in quiet awe of Joyce’s power and gratefulness for her quick intervention.

* * *

 

Scratch that. Max was no longer grateful.

Not a minute after dessert was finished, Joyce whisked Chloe off to the kitchen to help her wash the dishes.

Leaving Max alone with David.

Her social anxiety skyrocketed as she shifted awkwardly in her chair, avoiding eye contact with the man at all costs. She wasn’t sure what Joyce’s motivation was here, but if it was any sort of reconciliation, Max very much doubted there was any chance of that judging by the laser-like glare David was levelling at her, a glare she could sense without even looking up at him.

She was debating the pros and cons of rewinding time and volunteering to wash the dishes before Joyce could when David spoke.

“Is it true?”

Max jumped as David’s words, quiet and stiff, sliced through the silence in the room like a hot knife through butter.

She squirmed uncomfortably for a moment before responding. “Is what true?”

The man grunted in annoyance. Obviously he had been hoping to make this conversation as short and succinct as possible. “About the marijuana. Was it Chloe’s?”

“Uh…” Max shifted more, pretending she was trying to get more comfortable so she wouldn’t have to respond right away. What was the right answer here? Chloe had already admitted to it. But what would David do if Max confirmed that confession? Would David -

“I’m not gonna do anything, Maxine, goddamn it,” he ground out through clenched teeth. “I know how Chloe talks about me. I know what she thinks of me. Hell, I know what _you_ think of me. I can see it on your face. But believe it or not, I care about Chloe’s wellbeing. I’m a mean old bastard, but give me that much credit, at least. I only want what’s best for her.”

“Is that why you hit her?”

Max didn’t realize those words had escaped her lips until she glanced up to see David’s shocked face. Her fingers twitched, ready to rewind, ready to erase the question she had no business knowing - after all, she had rewinded to prevent that very thing. From David’s perspective, Max was making a baseless accusation of something that had never occurred - granted, that was because Max had prevented it in the first place, but there was no way David could even know that -

Before Max’s eyes, she saw the man crumble.

“I’m not proud of that,” he said weakly. Max jolted in shock. So the time she saw David hit Chloe, in that alternate timeline...that hadn’t been the first time, had it? “I didn’t think she’d tell you that...but I’m glad she did. She was too proud to tell Joyce, and I’m too weak to tell her myself...I didn’t mean it. I moved without thinking. When I saw her in there with my gun...there’s no excuse for what I did. Ever since...ever since the war…I haven’t been myself. And it seems like whenever I try to care about Chloe she ends up with the worst of it.”

It clicked in Max’s mind, just then.

“The Fluoxetine,” she breathed. “In the bathroom...I thought it was Chloe’s, but it isn’t, is it? It’s yours.”

He sighed, rubbing his forehead. “You really are nosy, aren’t you? But yes. PTSD and depression. Got the diagnosis right after the war. It helps with the...the sadness, the empty feeling. But not with the anger, the blind rage, the blacking out.”

Max’s stomach churned. _What can I even say here?_

She took in a deep breath. “You need help, Mr. Madsen.”

“I know, I know,” he gasped, and Max was horrified at how close the man sounded to tears. It reminded her of the first time she saw her dad cry, the powerlessness she felt, the certainty that things really _must_ be that bad, because dads never cried. It was illogical, but when she saw grown men cry, that was all she could think of. “I know I should. But I can’t. What the hell would Joyce think of me then? That I can’t control myself without a drug to do it for me? That I need a pill so I don’t-” He cut himself off with a choked noise. “Joyce is a waitress. I’m a security guard. Chloe is unemployed. I can barely afford the goddamn Fluoxetine. Anything else and I’ll bankrupt us. And like hell Blackwell will keep me on if they find this out. The students there hate me enough. You think they’ll let me stay when they find out I’m even more _fucked_ in the head than they already think I am? Who would employ a security guard with anger issues? I’ve lost enough jobs like that one to know this much.

“No,” he concluded. He clenched his fists to stop them from shaking. “I can fix this on my own. I shouldn’t have even said anything. Do everyone a favor and keep what I told you to yourself. It’ll only hurt Joyce and Chloe in the long run. I shouldn’t even be telling you this.”

Maybe David was right. Max knew they had money troubles. She knew this would destroy Joyce’s faith, and would wound Chloe’s pride. And she knew David was right about Blackwell. It was a small town. Word would get out eventually, and David would be gone. Fired. Maybe David really could fix this on his own. Maybe it was best if he tried.

Medicine would help. Therapy would help. Max knew this. But she also knew that things weren’t always so easy.

Yes. Maybe David was right.

> DO BETTER ON YOUR OWN

**> GET HELP**

No. No, he wasn’t.

_You don’t hit your own step-daughter and absolve yourself of responsibility just because it’ll make your own life harder. Because you’re afraid what your wife will say. Afraid you’ll get fired. You don’t get to do that._

_Not to Chloe._

“You need professional help, Mr. Madsen,” Max said. She was surprised how authoritative her own voice sounded. Like she was stating a command rather than an opinion. “You owe it to Chloe. To Joyce. You want to help Chloe, right? You said you care about her. If that’s true, you’d get help. For her. You weren’t totally in your right mind when you hit her. I get that. But you’re responsible for everything afterwards. And I don’t know how you could say you care about her if you’re not willing to do everything you can so that never happens again. If you’re not willing to do everything in your goddamn power to make up for it.”

David laughed hollowly. “What I did, no man can make up for. Not in one lifetime. But you’re right. Damn it, I know you’re right. I owe it to her to try.”

Max let out a breath she hadn’t known she was holding in. “Um. That’s good.” She internally cringed at her response. She sounded nothing like she had before, when she was filled with righteous anger on Chloe’s behalf. She was right back to her normal, awkward self. It was almost terrifying, the extremity of the emotions Chloe brought out in her. When it came to Chloe’s wellbeing, it was like she became a different person altogether.

“I’m glad she has you.”

“Huh?” Max blinked in shock.

“I’m glad Chloe has you. Long as I’ve been a part of this family I can’t think of a single person who’s looked out for her like you have. Not since Rachel. She deserves someone like that. If anyone on this earth deserves someone in her corner like that, needs someone, Chloe does. I swear it’s like the world’s determined to shit on her sometimes. And Lord knows I count myself as part of that. But not you.”

_You don’t know all of it. You don’t know what I did. How I left her without a word._

“Not like you need my approval, or want it, or that it means anything in the first place...but you have it.”

“Your approval…?”

“Of your relationship. With Chloe.”

Max smiled awkwardly to cover up her momentary confusion. She had almost forgotten about her and Chloe being in a “relationship”. David was right. She didn’t need his approval, or want it. PTSD and anger issues aside, he was still a sanctimonious dick for the most part. But she supposed it would make things a lot easier now that she didn’t have to worry about having David’s disapproving eye hovering over her every moment. Yes, now that David trusted her, even if it was just a little, things would be a lot less tense from here on out. Who knew all it would take is for him to think Chloe and her were dating?

But no matter how she looked at it, at all the positive change this one decision had caused, she knew…

“All done with the dishes,” Joyce said sweetly, stepping into the dining room. “What did I miss?”

“Joyce? We need to talk about something,” David said gruffly. “Alone.”

“Oh?” Joyce seemed wary, confused, but something on David’s face made her swallow up any argument she may have had. She shot a questioning glance at Max. Whatever she had expected to happen when she’d left the two alone, it hadn’t been this.

Chloe stepped out of the kitchen soon after, like she could sense the awkward atmosphere in the air. She glanced suspiciously at David, and shot a questioning glance of her own at Max that was so similar to her mother’s it almost made Max smile despite the tenseness of the situation.

“Thanks for the dinner, Joyce,” Max said quickly. “It was good to see you again. Me and Chloe are just going to...leave. Now.”

Joyce cocked her head to the side. “Are you sure, sweetie? We don’t mind putting you up for the night -”

“Yeah, she sure. She’s gotta be back at Black-hell.” Chloe joined in, evidently picking up on Max’s intense desire to flee the situation. Max shot her a grateful look.

“Well, okay…” Joyce said. “Drive Max home, would you, Chloe? And drive her home _safely,_ please. As safely as you can in that rustbucket.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Chloe said dismissively.

“Joyce?” David called. He had left the room without Max noticing, evidently to find a private place for the life-changing discussion he was about to have with his wife. If not for his sake, Max hoped it went well for Chloe’s sake.

“Coming,” Joyce called, but not before levelling a suspicious look Max’s way, as if she knew that Max knew what this was all about. Which, of course, Max did. But something like this was better heard from the source. Max smiled thinly at Joyce and gave her a quick one-armed hug before darting after Chloe, who had already left the house and shut the door behind her.

Chloe, showing an unusual amount of restraint, waited until they were both seated in her truck before she began her inquisition.

“What was _that_ all about?” Chloe demanded. “What did you say to him? He looked like he was staring down the barrel of a gun or something. Which, of course, I’m fine with.”

Max couldn’t help but laugh. “Well...it’s a bit much to explain? And I’m not entirely sure I can say a lot of it. I think you’re better off hearing it from him.”

Chloe scoffed. “If I have to listen to him, I’m better off not knowing, in my opinion.”

“I’m serious, Chloe.”

“So am I,” she said with a shit-eating grin. “Come on. Just tell me.”

“...fine. But let’s get far away from here before that. Joyce will start to wonder what’s going on if we stay parked here for much longer, and I’d rather you weren’t in control of a 4,000 pound death machine when you hear this.”

“It’s that bad?!”

“I knew I shouldn’t have said anything,” Max groaned. “It’s not bad, per se, but...I’ll explain, I promise. Just drive. Please?”

“Fiiine,” Chloe whined. “God. We’ve only been Not-Dating for like, a day, and I’m already whipped. Pathetic.”

“Chloe. Drive.”

“Yes ma’am.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so theres my long-awaited update! i hope it was worth the wait. from here on out i plan on updating at least biweekly if not weekly, pls feel free to kill me if i don't hold myself to that.
> 
> im trying to think of a better way to implement "choices" into the story, one thats more seamless than just text! when i figure it out expect the format of that part in this chapter to change a bit
> 
> next chapter: chloe and max have a talk about david, and max finally fckin goes to class


	5. Selfish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heart to hearts in a junkyard. 
> 
> Chloe Defense Squad President Max Caulfield saves the day, kind of

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im not really a fan of how this turned out :( but i wanted to get something out for u guys since i fucked up my release schedule (a lot of not so nice shit going on in my life right now but i think ive got it sorted) but ill try my best to get to the point where i can do regular updates !!!!

“You missed the turn,” Max said, frowning. 

“If we were going to Blackwell, then yeah, I did. But we’re not.”

“Alright then. Care to enlighten me what our actual destination is? Keep in mind if you cross state lines with me that’s technically kidnapping.” Max wasn’t sure this was actually true, but for the sake of banter, she was going to run with it like it was.

“Who are you, Olivia Benson?”

“...who?”

“My bad. I forgot that you don’t like to watch anything on TV that wasn’t made before the 80s.”

“That’s not true,” Max scowled.

“Oh, right. _ Final Fantasy: Spirits Within _ came out in the noughties, right?”

“Come on. I’ve seen more recent films than that.”

“I don’t know if I’d even call that a film, but I’m all ears.”

“Uh. There’s…” She genuinely couldn’t think of anything. Shit. “Shut up.” 

Chloe, who had burst into raucous laughter as soon as she realized Max was coming up blank, just smirked at her. “So I was right. You really haven’t changed much at all, have you? It’s kinda comforting.”

“You, on the other hand, have changed quite a bit,” Max admitted. “Your hair, for example.” She reached over and twisted a lock of the teal hair that was a far cry from the dirty blonde hair of childhood Chloe around her finger. If she pulled off the girl’s beanie, she knew it would reveal the pale purple strands that faded into said blue hair, creating a pleasant ombre effect that was mildly disrupted by the visible brown roots showing at her scalp.  _ She really needs to re-dye her hair _ , Max thought to herself as she toyed with the strand she held in her fingers. It was more than likely that the reason Max always saw Chloe with a beanie on her head was because she was trying to hide the growing-out of her roots.

“Stooop,” a red-faced Chloe whined, shaking her head like a wet puppy until Max relinquished her hair. “I know. It looks dumb. I’m waiting for it to fade already.”

“You don’t like it?” Max asked, confused. 

“I got sick of it, like, a month after I did it. Looked cool at the time. But for one, it was a bitch to get it looking like this, and I definitely don’t wanna go through all that shit again,” Chloe explained, taking one hand off of the wheel briefly to give a demonstrative tug at her hair (which was mildly concerning, considering she only had one hand on the wheel in the first place). “Plus, ombre hair is catching on too much. It’s too mainstream. You’re a hipster, you know what I mean. The other day I saw this woman at Two Whales who must’ve been  _ fifty _ with the same fucking hair as me. Do you realize what a blow that was to my ego?” She nudged Max’s knee with her own. “ _ Do you _ ?”

Max couldn’t help but snort. “Well, considering how big your ego is, it’s not a hard target to hit.”

“Fuck you!”

“You know I’m kidding,” Max laughed. Then she frowned as she realized what Chloe had said. “Wait, did you call me a  _ hipster? _ ”

“I’m not wrong,” she laughed, before launching into her best Palpatine impression. “ _ Search your feelings, Max. You know it to be true _ .”

Max just rolled her eyes. They sat in silence for a moment. Not an awkward one, but a comfortable one. Max even forgot to ask Chloe where she was taking them; this kind of thing had happened all the time when they were younger. They’d start off talking about one thing and before too long the conversation derailed itself into mindless teasing and banter until the original topic was long forgotten. 

She’d missed that. She just hadn’t known how much until just now.

“I like your hair,” she said suddenly.

“Huh?”

“I like it,” Max repeated. “It suits you.”

Chloe didn’t respond, but when Max looked up from her lap, she saw a tiny, secretive smile on the other girl’s face.

* * *

 

“Okay, we’re here!” 

Max looked around. She had sort of spaced out the rest of the drive, running back in her mind what had just occurred during dinner at the Price household. It was a lot to take in. She could only hope she had made the right choice - no, that wasn’t true. She had. She knew she had. What she really hoped was that the inevitable fallout wouldn’t be too horrible. Chloe didn’t deserve that. Neither did Joyce.

Too consumed with thoughts like that, she hadn’t noticed that Chloe was taking her to a place she was actually familiar with - that junkyard where she’d rewound time like 20 times trying to make sure Chloe didn’t shoot herself. She massaged her temples, remembering the splitting headache that had gotten her.

“We’re here!” Chloe cheered, popping her own door open and reaching over to do Max’s side as well - 

“I got it,” Max blurted out, unwilling to experience a repeat of what had happened earlier, the warmth, the scent - Max shook her head. “I press this, right?” She had to push down harder than she expected - the button was slightly sticky, not wanting to be pressed down all the way. After a particularly forceful button mash, however, the door unlocked with a slightly metallic  _ pop _ .

“This thing is a death trap,” Max deadpanned. “I hope you know that.”

“Okay, yeah, it’s a little sticky -”

“Mhm. A little.”

“And maybe the breaks don’t work like, all the time -”

“The breaks  _ what _ ?”

Chloe grinned sheepishly. “They’re fine, I promise! Just a little...sticky, sometimes.”

“I hope you don’t think that’s reassuring. Like, at all.”

“Hey, I wouldn’t step in this thing if I wasn’t certain it was 100% safe!”

“Excuse me if I don’t believe you,” Max snorted, remembering all of the times she’d saved Chloe from her frankly alarming lack of self-preservation. “That’s it, we’re walking back.”

“We can’t leave my truck here, Max,” Chloe pouted. 

“Sure we can,” Max grinned. Chloe had stepped right into her joke. “After all, it’ll be right where it belongs,” she finished, dramatically sweeping her hand in the direction of the graveyard of rusted, damaged beyond repair automobiles in the junkyard.

Chloe gaped. “How dare you,” she said, trying to sound scandalized, her voice warbling with barely-repressed laughter. 

Max laughed. “I’m just being honest.  _ Search your heart, you know it to be true _ .”

“First of all, it’s search your  _ feelings _ . Second of all, you’re the worst girlfriend ever.”

“Oh, please,” Max rolled her eyes. “You’re lucky to have me.”

“You’re the worst girlfriend, and you’re the worst at being modest, too.”

“You could do a lot worse in both of those departments.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. Victoria Chase still exists,” Max replied, feeling only the tiniest twinge of guilt at the blatant insult. Even if it was pretty much true. 

“Damn, you’re right. I really could do a lot worse. I take it back, let’s kiss and make up.”

“Nope, I’m still gravely offended. You’re sleeping on the couch tonight,” Max sniffed, pulling the door open and stepping outside. 

Chloe followed suit, still pouting ever so slightly, like an overgrown puppy with electric blue hair. It was maddeningly endearing. 

Chloe hopped up on the hood of the car, ignoring the ominous squeal of the metal under her weight. She patted the space next to her, gesturing for Max to sit down. She did so, gingerly, rather than Batista-bombing the damn thing like Chloe. 

Chloe pulled her legs up onto the hood, wrapping her arms around her legs. Max mirrored the movement, surprised at how comfortable it was. There was a light breeze that ghosted over her arms, kissing her skin, cool but not enough to make her shiver or to cause any discomfort. For a junkyard, the air smelt surprisingly cool and refreshing, like grass, offset by only a hint of something sharp and acrid, perhaps motor oil. An odd smell, but not a terrible one.

She felt the most at peace she’d been all day. All week. 

“So,” Chloe said, breaking the silence, shifting her weight, unconsciously or not, so that their arms pressed together. Max almost pulled away, but the warmth sinking into her skin was rather pleasant.

“So,” Max parroted back.

“What was it you were gonna tell me anyway?”

Max chewed her lip. “Okay, promise you won’t be mad.”

“Why would I be mad?” 

“I dunno,” Max sighed. “It’s just...I kind of got involved in something really personal. To you. Your family. And I didn’t mean to or anything. But it happened. I kind of...intervened. Without meaning to. And I’m not sure if it was in a good way, or…”

“Max, calm down,” Chloe said. “It’s...fine. I dunno how I can say for sure without, you know, hearing what actually happened. But it’s fine. Probably. So chill.”

Max laughed nervously. “Yeah, I...thanks.”

“Well?”

“David kind of found out that I knew...that he…” It came to Max all at once: the realization that Chloe didn't know that Max knew. Knew that David had hit her. At least twice. 

“That he what?” Chloe’s voice was low, the tone unreadable. She could have been nervous, angry, or simply curious. Max could usually read these kind of emotions off of Chloe. She couldn’t now. Was it the time they had spent apart, or something else?

“Well. Um. Do you remember when I was in your closet?”

Chloe grinned. “I could make so many jokes right now.”

Max flushed, realizing what she said had sounded kind of…”You know what I mean. The first day we met back up. When David caught you smoking weed. Kind of.”

“How could I forget?” Chloe groaned. “Don’t tell me he brought it up again after me and Joyce left. I admitted it was me! Does he still blame you or something?”

“No...no, he believes me,” Max said. “It’s...something else. I had just gotten my power that day. And I kind of...used it. Because I saw something.”

“Saw something?”

“Y-Yeah. The first time around. I kind of repeated that situation twice.”

“You mean it went even worse the first time?” Chloe whistled. “Damn. How bad was it? Did he expel your or somethi-”

“I saw him hit you, Chloe.”

The other girl fell silent.

Max averted her eyes, sucking in a deep breath. “I stayed hidden the first time. He immediately knew it was you. And he - lost his temper. And he hit you.”

“Jesus, Max,” Chloe said. Her voice was small, feeble.

Max’s heart clenched. “I know, I’m sorry, I should have...done more, I know. I just...my body moved on it’s own. I rewound and I said the weed was mine. I’m sorry, I didn’t know what else to do -”

“Shut _ up, _ ” Chloe barked, and Max was horrified to see there were tears running down the other girl’s cheeks. “God, that’s not what I meant! Are you stupid?”

“I -”

“I can handle a fucking slap in the face, Max. I don’t need you to protect me!”

“Chloe -”

“You almost lost your scholarship!” Chloe yelled, her voice cracking in a way that made Max want to wrap her arms around the other girl and shield her from the rest of the world. “Just because I -  _ God _ .”

“Chloe,” Max said, desperately. “Chloe, I’m sorry, I-”

“ _ Shut up! _ ” she screamed again. “Stop apologizing! I’m the one who -”

Max threw her arms around Chloe.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, okay?” she whispered “I’m the one who failed you.”

“You didn’t,” Chloe said, voice muffled, face pressed into Max’s shoulder. “You never do, I’m just selfish, I didn’t even think about could have happened to you when you covered for my ass until today, and then I found out you only did it because he... because I...I’m the worst, God, how can you  _ stand _ me -”

“Stop it, Chloe,” Max admonished. “I care about you, you’re my best friend. You know that. You didn’t make me take the blame, okay? I did it on my own. I made that choice. I know you can handle yourself, but you shouldn’t have to. You shouldn’t have to be alone. That’s what I’m here for. You know that, right?”

“But you only did it because I, I was stupid enough to let David catch me. Or because I guilt tripped you or something. I’m not an idiot, I know what I’m like. I probably said some stupid shit to you afterwards, right? ‘ _ Thanks for nothing, Max, wow, I thought we were friends, I can’t believe you let him do that, let me just blame all of my problems on you, did I mention I’m still mad at you for having the audacity to move away from me and make better friends, because I’m still mad at you  _ -’Good enough impression?”

“I don’t know,” Max said simply, directly. “I didn’t plan on letting that scene play out any longer than it had to.”

Chloe was silent.

“I’m selfish, too,” Max whispered. “I couldn’t - I didn’t want to see you like that. I did it ‘cause I care about you and I don’t want you to be in pain like that, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Because I’ve abandoned you too many times already and I never want to do that to you again. Is that so hard to believe?”

Silence.

“And...and I hope that kind of thing, him hitting you...I hope you won’t have to worry about it anymore,” Max continued, shifting her weight so Chloe rested more comfortably in her arms. “That’s...what I was going to tell you. I...mostly accidentally...confronted him about that. He...he agreed to get help. About the anger. And he’s going to tell Joyce what he did.”

Silence. 

“I know, I kind of overstepped my boundaries, I just…” Max giggled, a nervous, compulsive sound. There was nothing remotely humorous about this situation, but all of the nervous energy in her body needed some kind of outlet. “I wanted to help you somehow. I mean. I did tell you I was selfish, didn’t I?” She still wondered about that day. _ Did I do it because it was the right thing to do? Because I was too afraid to look into Chloe’s eyes and see the pain there? Because in some fucked-up way, I thought it would make up for what I’ve done, that it would make me some kind of hero to her? _

“Shit, Max,” Chloe laughed hoarsely. “You have a pretty screwy definition of what selfish is.”

A smile pulled at Max’s lips. “No more than you do.”

Chloe smiled at that, fragile but real. “And you...what did you say to him?”

Max rested her chin on Chloe’s head as she thought. “I said that he needed to get over himself and get help,” she whispered. “I said that you deserve better.”

Chloe buried her face into Max’s shoulder, but she could feel the girl’s smile against her skin. “Deserve better, huh,” she said. “What did I do to deserve  _ you _ ?”

Max wanted to say something profound. Something like,  _ it’s not about deserving. You don’t have to earn me, you have me as long as you want me. I’m here because I am; there’s no karmic reason and there doesn’t need to be. I want you to be safe. I want to be someone you can rely on. _

Something like,  _ I love you. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had. I could stay like this, with you, forever, and I don’t know why or if I even deserve to. When it comes to you, there is no certainty. I don’t know anything. I don’t even know how I feel. _

_ It scares me. _

“I could ask you the same thing,” was all she said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ill try to make the next chapter less filler fjldksjfsld but i felt like this was a conversation these two needed to have. issa slow burn ok
> 
> follow me on tumblr and yell at me for not updating, im kalipygos :)


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